COVID-19 continues to flood our news feed and everywhere else we look online, and as a result, we are seeing that it’s affecting many people. It doesn’t take much for a virus to spread. All it takes is an uncovered cough, unwashed hands touching a doorknob, and being near others while you are sick. COVID-19 is at the point where it is affecting our community. At Northern Vermont University – Lyndon, the virus is preventing teachers, faculty, and students from continuing the semester in-person.
A message from President Elaine Collins was sent out in an email to students on March 12. The email said that in-person, face-to-face instruction will be suspended at the end of the day of March 13. The email also stated that NVU-Lyndon will be proceeding with classes online and use Zoom to meet for class instead of meeting in-person. On March 24, President Collins told us that remote instruction will continue until the end of the spring semester.
Even though some people might struggle with online classes, I believe that professors are doing the best that they can to help students get the most out of their online classes, even though we are no longer meeting face-to-face. I interviewed Meaghan Meachem who is a Journalism and Communications professor at NVU-Lyndon and asked her how the transition from in-person to online has been. She said that the transition has not been horrible and that she has had to get creative so her students can get as much out of the class as they can. Meachem also said that she has learned more about her students in the last two weeks through assignments than she did when they were face-to-face. She said that it’s also a good time to learn more about yourself during this pandemic.
Even though this is a hard time for a lot of people, I believe that we need to stay positive and learn what we can from this situation. My name is Rachel Carpenter and I am a Broadcast & Digital Journalism student. I am staying here on campus doing my online classes. Even with this being a difficult time, I have been learning to look on the bright side of things in this situation. I think covering local stories about COVID-19 is a great experience and one that I will always look back on. It’s something I can put on my resume for a future employer to see that I had covered different pieces of this story. With everything that has been happening, I can step up and gain different skills about being a reporter that I might not have gotten if COVID-19 didn’t happen.
During this time of remote learning, I have had the opportunity to meet with an anchor for Spectrum News in Albany, NY and a producer from WINK-TV in Fort Myers, Florida. This time has also been a great experience to hear what people in the journalism field are dealing with and how they are doing their jobs from home. I feel like even though this online learning happened so abruptly in the semester, I am still learning so much and experiencing new things!
Michael Secreti who is the Assistant Director of Student Life at NVU-Lyndon, says during this hard time, we need to embrace that we are a community and make sure we are looking out for each other.
I believe that everything happens for a reason, so if people get anything out of COVID-19, I hope it is how to look out for others and to be more caring and compassionate. I hope when all this is over, people will appreciate that they can go out and socialize with other people and won’t take it for granted.